Bang & Olufsen Beogram 1203 Turntable Too Slow Fix

[@jaycee1980]

Yep, not much you can really do after the belt with these AC synchronous motor based turntables, other than disassemble the motor, clean and relubricate the bearing and shaft ends. Can be an absolute nightmare. The speed adjust control you found likely changes where the belt rides on a tapered shaft of the pulley. Thats only intended for fine speed correction really, maybe 5% at the most. Another thing it might be worth doing, is looking to see if there are any phase shift capacitors driving the motor. I had a Dual turrntable like this that used the infamous RIFA polypropylene capacitors that crack (and let the magic smoke out) with age. The turntable would actually run backwards on occasion until I replaced them!

[@JanBeta]

Thanks! I suck at most mechanical things so I didn't dare to take apart the motor assembly. I hope this quick and dirty fix lasts a while at least. The speed adjust in this one is an interesting concept. It works like a brake apparently. Two brackets are clamping on a wheel that brakes the motor. Pretty crude but it still works. Dual had those capacitors in all their gear I think. I learned about them when one of them exploded in a Dual amp I was working on. All that smoke! :D

[@efandmk3382]

With modern turntables (meaning electronic rather than mechanical speed control) the only two solutions for too fast or too slow platter rotation is either a belt replacement or a rheostat replacement. The motor speed is actually controlled by a rheostat.

[@simmo1024]

"DIN". Excellent! Learned something new today - who to blame for years of having to deal with awful soldered DIN connectors! Also Roxette. Great album, came out in 1988 If I recall. First CD I ever bought.

[@JanBeta]

Yeah, not the worst thing the Germans ever did but a pain nevertheless. ;) I used to listen to Roxette on the juke box at the diner in our village as a kid and loved them. Got Look Sharp and Joyride on tape back then and later bought the vinyl. :)

[@BJPCameron]

Thanks so much for this wonderful lesson! I’ve got 2 of these TT’s with 4 good cartridges/styli. Both with same problem - now repaired!

[@JanBeta]

Oh, glad I could help! Seems to be a very common problem with these turntables. I hope the fix lasts for some time.

[@MathieuBurgerhout]

NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA! She's got the look. Thanks for the ear worm!

[@JanBeta]

Haha, yes, I heard the song in my head for days after this repair, too. ;)

[@bertbaekelmans8959]

This is still my all time favorite record player. It's design could have been done yesterday instead of 50 years ago

[@TheDefpom]

Nice fix, I still own an old Pioneer stereo system with a record player, although I have never actually used it ! (the entire thing is in storage), the last time I tried it out it still seemed to mostly work, but I expect that won't be the case when I look at it next time, might end up being a repair video one day.

[@JanBeta]

Thanks! I find the old stereos often last surprisingly long until they gradually fail. I love how well they are built in general. Pioneer should be no exception. Looking forward to maybe see a restoration/repair video from you some time. :)

[@bertbaekelmans8959]

Strobe is on the platter !!! Under the record

[@markeaton2003]

Speed ajustment wheel is located at the left side rear of unit. The spinle motor takes 5 minutes to come up to speed. Their 60hz motors had problems.

[@shlomital5845]

I was just trying to fix exactly the same problem on my old 1203 !!😁 Exactly the same turnable. But as it happen in your case, it is still running slow. And what is more funny that the switch is also not working sometimes. Maybe we have the same serial number as well :)

[@JanBeta]

I think the colleague I fixed this for sold it on eBay some time later because he got a better turntable for himself. Maybe you got this one?

[@shlomital5845]

@@JanBeta hehe I wouldn mind that, but no, this one where waiting for me at my friends family after so many years... in fact I was 15 yo when I discover dark side on the one Im trying to fix now. At the moment, sad thing.. broke the needle :( maybe it was broken before hense it didnt hold and bent to the side and I though I can fix it and boom! Now Im trying to think how and if its possible to glue it back somehow

[@christofhagedorn]

First of all, the motor has to be cleaned and lubricated, but also the belt has to be wobbly, so the old belt is nice! The new (cheaper) ones are too rigid, so that the speed change is very hard and the idler wheel is forced too strong to the motor shaft. I made that experience few days ago. I bet that it would run even a little faster, when you use the old belt now.

[@MindFlareRetro]

Nice fix. A shame that the cartridges are out of production. Perhaps it's time to pull my old AKAI AP-Q41 out of storage. You're always inspiring me. :)

[@JanBeta]

Thanks! Maybe (hopefully) we'll see some cartridges go back into production some time. Vinyl sales on the rise and all. ;) Definitely a good time to dust off that turntable.

[@andychoi1499]

Anyone know the size spec for the turnable belt? thanks

[@jasoncampbell8615]

Thank you very much for this video. I live in Victoria, Australia and we only have one approved B&O repair centre in the state. I dropped off my B&O Beogram1203 turntable six and a half months ago which had been in my parent's storage for years and stopped working. The business I dropped it off at still hasn't fixed it and has come back to me with excuse after excuse after excuse and honestly don't appear motivated in the slightest to find solutions. Basically from what they've told me it needs a new belt and idler. These parts, in Australia at least they've told me are out of stock. I've asked if they can make enquiries into Europe and get back to me however each time I hear nothing from them and it's me that has to call them weeks later. I'm basically at my wit's end. Would you know Jan what my chances are of finding these parts? Cheers.

[@GadgetUK164]

Great job =D I learned something today - DIN origin!

[@JanBeta]

Thanks! Yes, the painful soldering of DIN connectors is all the German's fault. ;)

[@aphexteknol]

Me too. I had no idea DIN was originally German, or what the acronym actually stood for. Thanks Jan! I have seen DIN inputs on old imported Hi-Fi equipment before and been puzzled since we normally used good old RCA style connectors for most things here in the USA.

[@TreyWait]

The black bars on the platter are for speed calibration.

[@neilforbes416]

Jan Beta, your accent shows you to be somewhere in Europe, in which case the power supply there will be 220-240 Volts @ 50 Hz line frequency. If this turntable is running slow, check first the line frequency setting. The voltage may be correctly set but the line frequency setting may have been overlooked as many people don't realise there's more to electric power than merely volts. there's line frequency(constant stream of power arriving at so many cycles per second, or "Hertz") and strength of power, rated in Watts.

[@JanBeta]

Yes, I checked that. It is hard wired for 220V/50Hz (iirc it even says so on the sticker on the back) which is fine for the 230V here in Germany. Thanks for pointing that out. :)

[@neilforbes416]

I realised that at that point in your video, but being an internationally-renowned brand, I guessed it may have had provisions for voltage and line frequency adjustments to suit different markets.

[@JanBeta]

Yes, I've seen changeable ac inputs on a lot of audio gear usually easily achieved from the outside, sometimes by rewiring the transformer or plugging in a connector inside.

[@neilforbes416]

Either way, did you manage to get the turntable running at the correct "geschwindigkeit"?(yeah, I spent some time learning German, for an interest).

[@JanBeta]

+Neil Forbes Yes, it works for now. Lubricating the motor and replacing the belt fixed the speed issue for now. It won’t last forever but hopefully for a while.

[@nizosuke]

Great video, where did you get a new belt for this model? Please?////

[@JanBeta]

I think I found it on eBay if I remember correctly. It’s a pretty unusual one. There’s probably only a handful of Hi-Fi stores that sell them.

[@Filipjensen]

To lubricate it properly you need to take out the bronze bearings, clean them in alcohol and infuse the bearings with new oil under vacuum pressure.

[@pekko68b]

Where are the bearings exactly? I have a 1203 too and I have to fix it but I don´t wanna make it worse. It hurts my ears to listen to records with it.

[@Dennisoehler]

When you put the record on with one hand, you lost me.

[@thomaskinsman4194]

Hi. I'm trying to find a replacement belt for the beogram 1203. What size is the belt? Does it have to be round? Thanks

[@georgemelic]

BEOPARTS IN DANEMARK

[@Like_and_Subscribe_Yeah]

Can you tell me what you did with the thin wire from the lift switch? You stated in the video that didn't know where it went and were going to investigate, then nothing more about it?! Curious as I have one of these in bits on my bench with the same issue. The service manual makes no reasonable reference to it as far as I can tell.

[@JanBeta]

Oh, I didn't really know what to do with it and left it were I found it initially. It didn't seem to connect anywhere so it was just sitting next to the mechanism. The button still worked so it can't be all wrong that way. The service manual really doesn't give any info on it unfortunately. :/

[@Nukle0n]

B&O used to make such nice stuff. They were the pride of Danish design. Now I have no clue why they're still around.

[@JanBeta]

They always did great design. I think they still do to an extend. I don't know about the build quality and value for money of the newer products but at least they still have their place. Do you happen to know if they still produce stuff in Denmark at all? Maybe some of the higher end products? Would be interesting to know.

[@bertbaekelmans8959]

Just like porsche they lost the "less is more" design spirit !

[@leostechnikkanal]

Schöner alter Plattenspieler!

[@JanBeta]

Wirklich schöne Geräte, sehr zeitlos. Leider technisch vergleichsweise eher unterdurchschnittlich für die Zeit. Da wurde Bang & Olufsen seinem Ruf gerecht. ;)

[@leostechnikkanal]

Jan Beta genau !

[@TheHighlander71]

Darn, I spent some time staring at records spinning around. In my memory though 33 revs was a lot quicker...

[@JanBeta]

Haha, I still spend a lot of evenings doing it. Never really stopped listening to records. I love the fact that vinyl outsold CDs recently. ;)

[@bunnlose]

i have no idea where you got those green screwdrivers, but i have the same ones, never seen anyone having them =) live in norway btw

[@karijohartmann2649]

Aww. I thought you were going to actually repair this. It's not that hard. The motor is not that complicated, since they use a sintered bearing, which has a thin long lasting lubricant that will literally last up to 40 years before you need to give it attention. But when it needs it, you need to take it apart and use some very pure thin machine oil and do it before you ruin the bearing by spraying silicone into it and it scores and you never get it to spin up to speed. Simply take the motor housing screws out and then you may have to do a little battle with the housing which is crimped into place, and then sandwiched while the paint is still wet to seal the internals... but if your bearings are still good... clean them out thoroughly with a q tip and alcohol... or toulene... or naphtha (the last two more acceptible but harder to find) and then oil it and hope that it hasn't gotten too bad! It will likely work right away, the true test is if it stays working and the bearing accepts the oil and hasn't been fouled by the rancidified oil that was in there for so long. Good luck!

[@frankgeeraerts6243]

Soundsmith makes replacements for the B&O cartridges.............very expensive . I have a linear tracking B&O but no longer a cartridge for it ...pity ( out of my budget ) ..

[@denismere9855]

Didn't work for me.

[@esbenarndt5703]

You should remove the pic up when you are repairing,,,!

[@MiguelBricaBrac]

As with everything these days, the company now only exist as a brand. Samsung bought the automotive division some time back and a Hong Kong company bought the audio and stereo division along with the manufacturing plant in Czech Republic. Goodbye B&O.

[@JanBeta]

Yeah, it's really sad how many of those classic companies are no more. Sign of the times I guess...

[@Anden101]

Not quite true. B&O is public company traded on Danish stock exchange. R&D is still based in Struer, Denmark. Some production too. Majority stock holders still Denmark based. Not doing well though and yes, automotive division sold off a couple years ago

[@fng6008]

How s about too fast I have technics sl 23 belt drive

[@JanBeta]

I don’t know about that particular model but usually they have a speed adjustment screw somewhere (either on the bottom or inside the case) that you can adjust the motor speed with.

[@patdoyle2514]

A quick fix or repair? It is not repaired. Why did you upload this? After 30-35 years the motor needs to be taken apart and each end of the rotor must be oiled with a light oil. I mean the wicked cup the rotor sits in. Just two drops on the wicks in the cups. Spraying the rotor shaft does nothing. Most persons from your country are not lazy.

[@JanBeta]

I explained in the video that it's a quick fix and not a permanent repair. I'm really clumsy with mechanics so I didn't take the motor apart.

[@bradjohnson8119]

have one from 1974, a model 3000 hevent used for years but motor would not run, i would manually use my fingers to turn for about ten minutes then motor when warm would run proper speed assume i would need to do as you say disasamble and properly lube motor i always loved this turntable wonder if original cartidge likely to have lost quality sound? looks like anything would need to be done by a qualifed tech, i have done small parts work in electronics long time ago, but may be beyond my abilities now thanks for any suggestions

[@ingvarpersson9515]

That video gave nothing. Do not fix the problem of the low speed. Spraying into the engine is bad. That model had a bad engine. The only thing that helps is to switch to a new motor.

[@andreillingworth3905]

The markings around the platter are strobe marking are they not! Id have thought with this deck that setting one speed with that single strobe line will automatically set all three speeds

[@cafe2nd79]

Chào